Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez (HQCD review)

First, a brief, and I think remarkable, coincidence. Aboutthree weeks before this writing, I was listening to the car radio and thestation was playing Rodrigo’s Conciertode Aranjuez. By whom I don’t remember, but it got me to thinking about thefirst recording I ever owned of the piece. It was by Spanish guitarist NarcisoYepes and conductor Ataulfo Argenta with the Spanish National Orchestra on aLondon LP that I bought sometime in the 1960’s, a recording I dearly loved buthad long ago abandoned at the outset of the CD era, figuring to replace it withthe equivalent silver disc. It didn’t happen, and I finally forgot all aboutit. So, after the radio reminded me of the recording, I set out to buy a CDcopy, to no avail. Decca had either never released the Yepes performance on CDor it was so long out of print that nobody had even a used Decca or London copyavailable. It hugely disappointed me. Then I happened to check HDTT’s Web site,and lo and behold, they had just remastered it! Sometimes, I think I’m psychic.And hugely happy.

Joaquin Rodrigo (1901-1999) wrote the Concierto de Aranjuez for guitar and orchestra in 1939, and iteventually established Rodrigo’s reputation as a leading composer for theclassical guitar. I say “eventually” because it wasn’t until Yepes and Argentarecorded it in monaural in the late Forties that it really took off worldwide.Even though Yepes would record the work again several times, this 1959 Deccarelease remastered by HDTT is their best collaboration, and I still think oneof the best versions, if not the bestversion, of it on record. Best of all, on HDTT it’s even better than Iremembered, sonically and musically.

Anyway, despite the fact that Rodrigo always claimed thegardens of the Palacio Real de Aranjuez had inspired his writing the piece, onecan’t help thinking that, given the year of its publication, the tragedy of theSpanish Civil War didn’t tinge it with melancholy. Rodrigo’s wife denied this,saying the slow movement drew on their happy days together and a miscarriageshe endured. Whatever, it’s a lovely, evocative piece of music, and, as I say,nobody did it better than Yepes and Argenta.

The composer described the first movement Allegro con spirito as "animated bya rhythmic spirit and vigour without either of the two themes interrupting itsrelentless pace." Here, Yepes is lively but gentle, too, an ideal lead-into the tenderness of the famous Adagiothat follows.

Rodrigo said that the second movement "represents adialogue between guitar and solo instruments” (cor anglais, bassoon, oboe, hornetc.). What he didn’t say was how utterly beautiful is was, somethingperformances after performances have been saying for over seventy years. Yepessays it best with an interpretation filled with tenderness, naturally, andhushed passion. Some critics found Yepes too mechanical or even toolackadaisical, particularly during his later years. That may be; I haven'theard much from him. But not here. Finding a perfect partnership with MaestroArgenta, who helped tutor the young guitarist early in his career, Yepesproduces one of the finest, most complete realizations of the score possible.

Then there’s that perky little closing tune, the oneRodrigo said "recalls a courtly dance in which the combination of doubleand triple time maintains a taut tempo right to the closing bar." Yepestakes it at a moderate gait, without going all crazy with it. It closes thepiece adeptly, maintaining the light, flower-scented mood of the rest of thework. After all, Rodrigo had described the concerto itself as capturing"the fragrance of magnolias, the singing of birds, and the gushing offountains" in the gardens of Aranjuez. Yepes takes him at his word.

Other guitarists have done justice to Rodrigo’smasterpiece, to be sure, and I would not want to be without Bonell, Williams,Bream, the various Romeros, and others. However, for an all-around engaging,entrancing, spontaneous realization in early though still state-of-the-artsound, it’s hard to beat this Yepes-Argenta partnership in its presentremastering.

The disc’s coupling, the Concierto serenta for harp and orchestra (1952) seems to have beenRodrigo’s attempt to duplicate the success of Aranjuez, this time using the harp. Certainly, no recording of ithas surpassed that of Nicano Zabeleta and conductor Ernst Maerzendorfer forpure, magical charm. It makes a most-attractive pairing.

HDTT remastered the Aranjuezfrom a London LP, recorded in 1957 and released in 1959, HDTT burning it to anHQCD. The sonics have an excellent depth of field, the listener able to hearsounds well back into the orchestra with a realistic sense of air and spacearound them. Transient attack is sharp and strong, the guitar a little closebut still quite natural and lifelike. With the remastering engineer’s judicioususe of noise reduction, the recording sounds as quiet, clear, and clean as anynew product. Rodrigo’s Harp Concertocomes from a DG LP made a few years later than the Aranjuez. While the Harprecording doesn’t have as much transparency or immediacy as the Aranjuez, it is still pleasant in aslightly flatter, more hi-fi sort of way.

HDTT make the music available in a variety of formats fora variety of pocketbooks, from Redbook CD’s, 24/96 DVD’s, and HQCD’s to 24/96and 24/192 Flac downloads for playback on high-end computer audio systems. Fordetails, visit http://www.highdeftapetransfers.com/storefront.php.